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Candida yeast infection has been dubbed the twentieth-century disease and during my twenty-two years in practice I have found it to be widespread. Up until recently its most common manifestation, the vaginal thrush that plagues many women, was brushed off as a minor women’s ailment and treated locally with fungicide creams, often unsuccessfully. It is now recognised that Candida can cause a range of symptoms, including headaches, fluid retention, skin complaints, bloating of the abdomen, mental disorientation and, in extreme cases, schizoid behaviour and paranoia.

More importantly, it can both mimic all the symptoms of allergy as well as cause allergic reactions. Because of this, the containment of a Candida yeast infection is the secret to the successful containment and ultimately the cure of most allergies. The discovery of this allergy-candida connection offers new hope to those many disillusioned allergy sufferers who’ve tried every available treatment regimen and still have their allergies. Containment of a Candida infection has its greatest effect on reducing allergic reactions to the chemicals in our food, air and water.

Candida albicans yeast lives in the intestines of at least 90-98 per cent of human beings (not normally in over-growth proportions though). In women it migrates from the large intestine to the vagina through the practice of wiping the bottom in a forward motion towards the vagina and through the wearing of tight jeans and nylon underwear.

Yeasts, like their cousins the moulds and fungi, are small plants that prefer to live in a warm, dark and moist environment. The crevices in the mucous membranes that line the walls of the vagina and intestines provide an excellent habitat for yeast of the Candida family. Like all plants, yeasts have a root system, a stem and foliage on top. The Candida albicans yeast sinks its roots into the mucous membranes of the body, which to it are fertile.

Most plants use their roots to draw nutrients from the soil they live in. These nutrients travel up the stem of the plant and into the branches, leaves and flowers where they contribute to the normal metabolism of the cells. The waste products of this metabolism are then released into the atmosphere. Fortunately for us, the major waste product released from plants is oxygen.

With Candida albicans the reverse process takes place. Nutrients are taken in through the foliage on top and the waste products are released out through the bottom. Candida albicans feeds on sugar and white flour. When either of these food types make contact with the yeast, the enzymes in the foliage of Candida albicans quickly convert them to the chemicals it needs to sustain life. The waste product of this enzyme conversion process is a toxic chemical called acetaldehyde, which is a general narcotic of the alcohol family of chemicals (also known as acetic aldehyde ethanol). Acetaldehyde travels down the stem and into the roots from which it is liberated into the mucous membranes.

Because the mucous membranes are so richly supplied with blood vessels it doesn’t take long for the acetaldehyde to find its way into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream it acts as a typical allergen and is capable of creating typical allergic reactions. People who are not responding to treatment for their allergies, despite sticking faithfully to their Anti-Allergy Program, getting adequate rest and religiously taking their anti-allergy vaccine and vitamin/mineral supplements, usually have a Candida yeast infection.

Because acetaldehyde is at the narcotic end of the alcohol spectrum, special symptoms set its action apart. These symptoms help us to recognise whether the problem is simple allergy or allergy plus Candida overgrowth. The narcotic effect of acetaldehyde is recognised as a typical narcosis. A fuzzy, foggy, spaced-out. off-the-planet feeling in the head, where the head sometimes feels out of kilter with the body, is the give-away sign. The flow-on from this ‘unreal’ feeling in the head is periodic loss of memory, concentration and an inability to clearly articulate one’s thoughts and feelings. This inability tends to manifest as emotional volatility with overt crankiness and irritability in women. In men, it tends to manifest as a sullen, silent moodiness accompanied by introversion and withdrawal.

Losing the drift of what is being said halfway through a sentence, whether we’re speaking or listening, forgetting what we read at the top of the page when we’re only halfway down it, or walking into a room and forgetting why we are there, are all symptoms of the narcotic effect of acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde causes allergic reactions in the tissues it affects as well as a separate narcotic reaction in the cells of those tissues.

Although the mental symptoms just described can be caused by stress, they are recognised as Candida symptoms if they go hand-in-glove with consumption of sugar, white flour and alcohol. Feeling spaced-out, faint, or drunk on only one or two glasses of alcohol invariably confirms a Candida problem as these one or two glasses top up already high levels of alcohol (acetaldehyde) in the blood.

Sudden bloating or distension of the abdomen or sudden onset of allergic reactions (for example, arthritis, acne, headaches, fluid retention or psoriasis) when only small amounts of sweets or alcohol are consumed usually indicates Candida. The sugar in sweets and alcohol feeds the Candida plants so effectively that there is a sudden spurt of metabolic activity in the existing plants and growth in newly forming plants. This means the sudden dumping of more acetaldehyde in the blood with a consequent exacerbation of any existing allergic reactions.